April 19, 2006
By Emmanuel Mulaudzi
WATER is an important natural resource – this is the message behind the annual Joburg Water Festival. This year the festival is moving to Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, from its original home at Zoo Lake in Parkview.
Running from 21 to 27 April, it will be opened by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo and Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Buyelwa Sonjica.
Organised by Joburg Water, the festival aims to spread awareness about the importance of water and to create a platform for the City's water utility to communicate important water messages to the public. A range of educational activities is planned for the festival, including exhibitions by the provincial government's Sci-Bono science centre that will involve water experiments and some of the centre's science and technology programmes.
Baldwin Matsimela, Joburg Water's acting communications and marketing manager, said the festival would close with a music concert on Freedom Day, with performances by Malaika, Ntando Sour, DJ Monde and "many other artists and well-known DJs".
Water Week festival 2006
According to a statement from Joburg Water, almost 6 000 school learners from across the city are expected to take part in the educational activities. These will take place in two water villages created at the square for the event.
Corporate day is the highlight of the festival. On this day, employees of Joburg Water and other City departments, utilities, agencies and corporate entities will take part in various competitions, such as water drinking, water tasting and "bucket on the head".
There will also be an exhibition, with the theme At your Service, featuring City service providers such as City Parks, City Power, Pikitup, Johannesburg Roads Agency, Joburg Connect, Johannesburg Development Agency and Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market.
Joburg Water's managing director, Gerald Dumas, says that this year the water festival will be bigger and more innovative than in previous years.
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